MERCHANT SHIPPING (AMENDMENT NO. 2) BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

3.27 p.m.

The Minister for Commerce and Industry (Mr J. M. Jumabhoy): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Sections 56, 57 and 58 of the Merchant Shipping Ordinance originally intended to protect our seamen, have now in practice come to militate against their obtaining employment. These sections require that the Master of a foreign ship must deposit a bond of $50, find an acceptable resident of Singapore as a surety and enter into a crew agreement before the Port Officer prior to signing on a seaman who is a British subject or a British protected person. These requirements were legislated in days when it was not uncommon for seamen, signed off at a foreign port, to be stranded there and were designed to provide a protection against such a disability. But times have changed and most maritime nations have now provision for the repatriation of all seamen signed off in foreign ports. In consequence, what was intended as a safeguard has now become a deterrent to employment, since Masters tend to sign on alien seamen in Singapore rather than go through the procedure required for seamen who are British subjects and British protected persons. This situation cannot be allowed to go on by the Government and, therefore, since the repatriation of the seamen is generally secured by national laws in most countries, it is no longer necessary to discriminate in the methods of signing on, especially where such methods are likely to lose employment in favour of alien seamen. This Bill, therefore, seeks to remedy this unfavourable situation for our seamen, and has the support of the Port Officer and of the Seamen's Registry Board on which both the seamen and shipowners are represented. I therefore commend this Bill to hon. Members.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole Assembly.

Assembly immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. [Mr J. M. Jumabhoy].

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read the Third time and passed.